Dysphagia is a disorder in which the sufferer has difficulty swallowing. This means that it requires the individual more time and effort to move food or liquid from the mouth to the stomach. Dysphagia may be associated with pain, and in some cases swallowing may be impossible necessitating feeding tubes and/or intravenous hydration and nutrition. There are three phases of swallowing: oral, pharyngeal, and esophageal. A problem may arise during any one of the phases. Problems during the pharyngeal phase include having a hard time starting a swallow; getting food or liquid into the airway (aspiration); and having some food or liquid stay in the throat after swallowing, referred to as residue.
Medical practitioners, such as speech-language pathologists, can work with individuals having swallowing problems. They can observe an individual's swallowing attempts by the use of an endoscope for viewing an interior of the individual's throat. The endoscope may be configured with a camera for capture of images and video of the interior of the throat to thereby allow the medical practitioner to view the throat interior on a display. Although current endoscopes with cameras are very useful for observing swallowing, there is a desire for improved endoscopy systems for assisting a medical practitioner with analysis of an individual's swallowing attempts.